Airbnb Starts Move Into Meetings

Andrew Sheivachman, Skift

- Sep 06, 2018 12:30 am

Skift Take

Airbnb’s new offerings will prove valuable for companies that don’t want to source and plan their own intricate offsite experiences. A wider push into distributing meeting space, though, isn’t here yet.

— Andrew Sheivachman

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A few months ago, when Airbnb announced that people holding events could embed a map of Airbnb listings nearby, I posited that the bigger opportunity would provide spaces and sellable add-ons to people planning meetings. After all, embedded maps are so 2010.

Now, Airbnb is going to sell experiences to corporate customers and curate appropriate listings for those who want to try a meeting outside the usual hotel conference room. Airbnb trialed these new features and found that the demand for them outstripped expectations, leading them to shut down the experiment early.

This should come as no surprise to Airbnb-watchers and those who study travel trends. Companies are using more diverse internal events to build camaraderie and keep younger workers happy, and millennials, in particular, love Airbnb.

For the wider meetings and events ecosystem, though, this is likely a blip on the radar. For Airbnb, though, this could be just the thing to help supercharge demand for its homes and experiences without having to compete against event tech giants.

Check out my story, and much more from across the sector, below.

If you have any feedback about the newsletter or news tips, feel free to reach out to me via email at as@skift.com or tweet me @sheivach.

— Andrew Sheivachman, Business Travel Editor

The Future of Events and Meetings

Airbnb for Work Brings Meeting Spaces and Experiences to Business Travelers: Before Airbnb makes a bigger play to bring add-on business travel products onto its platform, it’s going to integrate Airbnb Experiences and curated lists of meeting-appropriate homes into its booking tool. Initial feedback has been strong, so it’s probably only a matter of time until Airbnb builds partnerships in other areas.

Google Is Rigged. Just Not the Way Trump Thinks It Is: Google clearly places its own travel businesses front and center in its search results to the detriment of competitors. Google argues that this benefits consumers. If you buy that argument, then you also probably believe that Google always knows best.